Daily Disciples Devotional - Dec. 16, 2008
December 16
Today's Reading: Amos 4; Revelation 7
Today’s Thoughts: Believe and Receive Your Free Gift
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
The thought of receiving a free gift, even at Christmas, may seem too good to be true. To actually be given an amazing, priceless gift with no strings attached, no malls to enter and no bills to pay would make anyone skeptical to receive it. Maybe that is why the free gift of salvation is so hard to accept. Maybe this is why so many people look for their own way to heaven?
But regardless of our personal opinions about these two verses, they are truth. There is only one way to heaven and the only Way is by receiving the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. Despite the growing number of religious groups who believe otherwise, this truth will be the only one that matters when it is all said and done. Because in essence, we as mankind, have a hard time accepting the "gift." The old saying that there is no free lunch sets us up to only trust in those things we have earned. Trust is the key word. Where do we put our trust? We either trust in the Lord or we trust in ourselves.
There are those today who try to blend a combination of the two. We trust Him to give us the gift of salvation because we work hard to please the Lord. And our works and efforts really do look good. We attend church regularly, serve when needed, give as required, and overall, try to live lives that maintain Christian moral values. We give ourselves too much credit. God does not need us to do anything for Him because He has already done everything for us. But how do we accept His gift? We need to realize that the gift has been given by grace and to receive the gift, all we need to do is believe. We just need to believe in our hearts that Jesus died on the cross for all of our sins and that without Him, we are dead and destined to spend eternity separated from Him. Believe in Jesus, not in man's (or our own) good works.
I wonder how many of us today are just tired and weary. We try so hard but life seems to get tougher. The news is depressing and the future is uncertain. The Bible says that "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away." (Matthew 24:35) God's Word says that we have been given a gift, that we have been saved by grace and all that we have to do is to have faith in Jesus Christ. Everything else is passing away, dying off slowly, including us. Let's live today to the fullest in God's gift by trusting Him in all things and in all areas of our lives. Start by talking to Him. Give your heart to Jesus, give Him your burdens today and He will show you mercy. Worship and praise Him and your heart will begin to sense His joy and peace. Why would any of us desire to follow any other way?
Our mission is to evangelize the lost and awaken the saved to live empowered lives by the Work of God and His Holy Spirit. Daily Disciples Ministries makes a difference for the kingdom of God by teaching and training believers how to be in God's Word, how to pray and how to walk with Jesus every day, as His daily disciple.
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